Sacrifice
by tvkeshi
Summary: Dealing with the consequences of their imprisonment, their sanity hangs in the balance. When everything hangs just out of reach, they learn the price for control. Hayato and Takeshi are given a choice; they can either return home with the possibility of them being unable to protect their boss, or they can stay and train so that when the time comes they can stand alongside their Sky
Of all the people, it was Hibari that found them.

The others had returned to the past leaving only Hayato and Takeshi in the future.

Ryohei had sent out a search party when the pairs' older counterparts did not wake with the others.

Hayato had been unconscious and Takeshi, though lucid, was desperately clinging onto life. HIbari had called Kusakabe and they dragged them back to base.

Takashi remembered little of the several days that followed their return to base. He could only vaguely recall the warmth of the Sun Flames that worked to heal his wounds.

It was dark.

 _Where is the light?_

He was alone.

 _Where is Takeshi?_

He squeezed his eyes shut.

 _When did they take him?_

Voices grew steadily louder as they grew closer.

 _They're coming._

Without a second thought, Hayato launched himself at his attacker.

Ganauche sighed as he pushed open the door to the infirmary and flicked the lights on. Nie Brow had finished healing the brats the day prior and they had yet to wake.

Needless to say, watching children sleep was not his idea of a good time.

But no, someone _had_ to be there when they woke up.

And _of course_ that someone had to be him.

He had argued that Schnitten or even Nie Brow should be the ones to wait but of course, Schnitten was "too busy" and Nie Brow "had done enough by healing them".

Coyote said it was because he "had the nicest face".

But when Timeoto stepped in, he caved. He could argue all he wanted too, but what the boss says goes.

He had nothing against the kids. If he were to be honest, he was intrigued by the future Decimo's guardians; the conditions that had arrived in only added to his curiosity.

No, the only problem Ganauche had was that the job was so boring.

Especially after Coyote had caught him sleeping on the job; he shuddered at the memory.

Ever since then, he was forced to sit silently for hours on end. Bouche had thrown a book at his head when he complained at dinner, telling him to "read for Christ's sake". Sure he could sit and play chess with Timeoto, but sitting still for something as mundane as reading did not suit someone of his status.

He barely had time to register the movement, before a once sleeping patient knocked him to the floor.

Hayato fisted the unknown's blazer and pressed a knee to his gut to keep him down – disregarding the fact that the man was much larger than himself.

"Who are you?" he growled. "Where's Takeshi?"

His prisoner laughed nervously raising his hands in a placating gesture.

 _"Calm down,_ " it was the first time Hayato had heard someone speak Italian since he had left for Japan. The man pointed to a ring on his right hand, _"I'm not your enemy."_

Hayato eyed the familiar Vongola Crest on the man's ring but made no move to let him up.

The man sighed, _"Your friend is over there."_ He pointed across the room to the other bed.

After releasing Ganauche, Hayato hesitantly crept across the room barely taking notice of the sweats he had been dressed in; Takeshi was here and that was all that mattered.

Stopping at the side of the bed, he looked down at his sleeping friend. Takeshi was resting on his stomach, his back dressed in several layers of bandages.

He looked so weak, so broken.

What happened to the boy that was always smiling?

What happened to the boy that thought it was all a game?

What happened to the boy that stood strong whenever he was needed?

What happened?!

He couldn't breathe.

As his throat closed and he struggled for air, he wrapped his hands around Takeshi's arm.

The tears wouldn't stop and the air wouldn't return as he continued to hyperventilate.

"Calm down. He's alright. You're alright."

They were back in the cell.

Takeshi lay prone on the cot while Hayato knelt on the wet floor tending to him.

It was dark.

Everything was dark.

What if he didn't make it?

What if he ended up alone?

It was cold.

So cold.

Ganauche liked to think he was a people person. He liked people and he hadn't been killed yet, so he figured his claim was accurate. However, delicacy was not his strong suite.

He let the kid go check on his friend.

Figured he would be happy to see that he was alright.

But he wasn't.

As soon as the kid saw him, he started hyperventilating.

Then he was crying.

He tried talking to the kid to see what was wrong, but he didn't respond. Hell, he even tried shaking the kid, but that seemed to only make it worse.

So, he did the only thing he could, he called the boss.

Schnitten was winning, almost. If you asked him, he would say _bassetta_ was his greatest game. If you asked him, he would vehemently deny that he was the reason they were no longer to gamble with money.

If you asked anyone else, they would tell you that he was the worst gambler they had ever had the misfortune of playing against. If you asked them, they would tell you that he lost so frequently that the staff had started taking advantage of him for impromptu raises leading to Timeoto taking pity on him and forbidding monetary gambling in the mansion.

So when he was called to the infirmary, the room breathed a sigh of relief.

In the midst of his struggles, light began to flood his vision and he found himself in the present.

A man with a scarred face gently pried his hands away from where he was clutching his head.

Hayato blinked several times before his eyes finally focused on the stranger.

The pair was sitting on the ground next to Takeshi's bed and Ganauche was standing anxiously behind the scarred man.

"Calm down, Gokudera-san. Do you know where you are?"

He shook his head.

"We're at the Vongola Estate, in the mansion's infirmary."

He nodded with wide eyes.

"My name is Brabanters Schnitten, Nono's Rain, and the man behind me is Ganauche, our Lightning. You're safe with us. You're safe."

Hayato became aware of flames very similar to Takeshi's and began to calm down.

Schnitten slowly released his grip and softly patted the teenager's head.

"Will he be alright?"

It was Ganauche who answered, "Brow fixed him up. He'll be fine."

Approximately three hours later, Hayato still hadn't moved from his position at Takeshi's side and Ganauche was desperately fighting off sleep. Brow hadn't returned to check on his patient and Schnitten had long since departed.

He was bored.

And once again he was cursing his luck.

He was warm.

For the first time in god knows how long, Takeshi was warm.

He took a breath.

Antiseptics.

 _What game are they playing now?_

He sucked in a breath and continued to feign sleep.

"We're safe now."

 _We're safe?_

"Somehow we ended up with the Vongola.

"Nono's Sun patched us up.

"We're safe now.

"We're safe."

The voice continued to murmur in his ear repeating the same words over and over.

 _We're safe?_

Light engulfed his vision and, for what felt like the first time, he met Hayato's eyes.

"Hayato…" the Storm stopped his ramblings meeting Takashi's eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but was stopped before he could.

"You're alright," his croaky voice nearly brought tears to Hayato's eyes.

Nearly.

"Idiot," he chided gently, "worry about yourself for once."

Takeshi lifted pushed himself onto his elbows and rolled over with a pained grunt.

If anyone asked, Ganauche didn't just wake up because he fell off his chair. If anyone asked, his relatively inaccurate intuition had chosen that moment to be accurate. Either way, he was awake.

"Ah! Kid, you should probably stay down for now, at least until Brow comes back," the sleeping kid had woken up and was attempting to rise while the other was trying to push him back down.

The kid instantly tensed when he spoke and actually managed to sit all the way up stretching his arm across the other kid – what was his name again? – in a protective gesture. He would later be impressed at the kid's tenacity.

Ganauche raised his hands in a placating gesture making sure that his ring was within sight. _"I'm Ganauche, Nono's Lightening. You were healed by Nie Brow, Nono's Sun. Like your pal said, you're safe now._ "

The kid continued to watch him with narrowed eyes and, if he had to be honest, the kid's eyes scared the shit out of him. Several moments later, the other kid's eyes widened and he spoke in rapid fire Japanese.

Ganauche could have slapped himself.

The kid didn't speak Italian.

And he didn't speak Japanese.

"He's Vongola, too. His name 's Ganauche," Hayato whispered, "And I'm pretty sure he doesn't speak Japanese."

Takeshi could feel the strain the sudden movement put on his back but stayed firm in his refusal to move until Hayato placed a hand on his shoulder.

Then he asked the question that should have been on everyone's mind, "How did we get here?"


End file.
